As you plan ahead and stay weather aware for the threat of severe weather Friday, one thing to make sure you check is the health of the trees in your yard.
Tree experts say it doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s not unusual for trees to fall AFTER a storm passes.
Adam Elliott has seen what violent storms can do to trees. He pointed to a recent tornado in Homewood.
“We probably removed 100 trees, probably 50 off houses and the thing is a lot of those trees could have been prevented, had huge holes at the base, obvious decay,” said ACE Tree Service owner Adam Elliott.
And therein lies the root cause of why so many trees fall during a storm and after a storm. Dale Dickens is with the Alabama Forestry Commission.
“It’s not typical in the woods or the urban areas. Trees that are healthy have robust root systems,” said Dickens, the state’s Urban Forestry Coordinator for the Alabama Forestry Commission.
Both men say homeowners can take simple steps in making sure their trees are safe and not at risk of falling on their home. Make a visual inspection, look for cracks at the base, does it have a bad lean.
The ‘Check Your Trees, Please’ campaign is a program the forestry commission has been pushing for two years now.
One small study done in Minnesota and Georgia showed much of the home damage and injuries can be prevented from fallen trees during and after inclement weather.
“80% of the damage and injuries come from trees that were already impaired,” said Dickens.
“It is leaning really bad. At some point physics is going to kick in. The tree will bowl over if there’s upheaval on the backside,” said Dickens.
Dickens and Elliott strongly recommend a licensed arborist to check your trees if you have any doubts about their stability.
“We are trained to go out and do a visual inspection of your trees. We also do what we call risk assessment and triage risk and hazards,” said Elliott.
If you want to plant a tree near your home, Dale Dickens says, keep this in mind. “What I would recommend is you take a medium height tree, multi-stemmed.. think about who’s going to be easier to topple over,” said Dickens.
In other words, low, squat and wide stand a better chance of taking the brunt of the storm than say a tall pine, going deep with tree safety.
Elliott and Dickens say the inspection before the storm could potentially save you from having to spend thousands of dollars to repair your home.
